10 Day Trip-Traveling Charlotte, NC, Charleston, SC, Savannah & Atlanta, GA

Some things that would be helpful for people to give better advice:

- Restaurants - budget, type of food
- Beaches - interested in swimming? surfing?
- Shopping - looking for high-end, souvenirs, or something else?
- What are your interests/hobbies - art? Music? NASCAR? Civil War history? Gardens?

How many days do you plan to spend in each spot?

Personally I would not go to Atlanta, and spend a last couple of days in Asheville before going back to Charlotte, unless you are doing an open jaw airline connection.
There's a lot of great stuff to do around Charleston and Savannah, beach days, shopping, history. Atlanta is sort of just a BIG city--and it is a pretty good "hike" from the lower coast.

When is the trip taking place ? That may well impact your availability in beach areas as many will require weekly stays after Mem. Day. I agree w/Gretchen, why Atlanta ? (Or Charlotte for that matter)

I have to agree with the others "why Atlanta" question, although I'm sure there are others who will post who will defend it. As a tourist destination, it's one of my least favorite cities in the US (although we had fabulous barbecue there).

Liz - are you still interested in Atlanta restaurants? Happy to recommend if you answer the "what kind of food & budget" question.

We are going on our trip in June, we actually live in KY., but my husband has business in Charlotte for 3 days and the rest is vacation. Even though, I will be free those 3 days I usually like to do alittle shopping and maybe a spa day. Any recommendations on restuarant for us at night would be appreciated. But like I said in original post we will then head to Charleston, spend a couple of days there, then 2-3 days in Savannah. We like to take our days leisurely, lay on the beach, site seeing and any interesting places to eat. And we just figured Atlanta would be a good place to end our trip before heading back home.

There is a great fort outside of Savannah called Fort Jackson. It has historical significance and is just a cool place to wander around.

What kind of restaurants in Charlotte would you like? We have some really good eating now. There are a couple of other threads with some good lists, or we can generate a new one for you.
Where will you be staying.
Our new favorite restaurant is Lulu's on Central Avenue--a true French bistro plopped right down in Charlotte! You'll need a reservation.
In the SouthPark area there are numerous places. M5 is Mediterranean. Zebra is very fine dining. You can get a discount coupon for it on www.restaurant.com . If you want to do that I can give you a code for an even bigger discount.
There is an EXCELLent seafood restaurant--Upstream.
Downtown dining is also excellent.
Let us know.

Agree to skip Atlanta.

Charleston Restaurants:

Rue de Jean
Hanks
SNOB
Poes (Sullivans Island)

Stay:

On Sullivans Island. Best beaches on the east coast and close to downtown.

Take the kids to the SeaAquarium, Fort Sumter (great boat ride), do a carriage ride.

I agree that Atlanta is a big city with big city "stuff" to do but there are also a few sites of interest that are native to the area if this kind of thing interests you: Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, MLK Jr. sites, Margaret Mitchell house & museum, Stone Mountain.

I love all the responses, so let me answer a few questions.
First, yes I would still like a few names of restuarants in Atlanta, we like Italian, Seafood and I've heard they have great down-home cooking restuarants there.
Second, Gretchen I would love to have the code for discount and do you recommend reservations @ Zebra? We plan to make reservations at LuLu's.
Third, I think we will mainly do some site seeing in Atlanta, maybe catch a baseball game if they are in town and I want to check out the IKEA store, I've been to the one in the Chicago area and loved it.

My 2 cents. I have (personnally) not had good luck w/Zebra & I think there are many better restaurants in Charlotte if you are looking for a top shelf dining Experience. Bentley's, for example, or the absolute best (in my book) is the McNinch House. www.bentleyson27.com , www.mcninchhouserestaurant.com. BTW, there is also a new IKEA in Charlotte as well.

Restaurant suggestions:

Atlanta, barbecue: JR’s Log House BBQ Restaurant

Atlanta, Meat & Three: Chip’s Southern Cookin’ Meat & Three

Savannah, southern: Wassaw Sound Seafood Restaurant, Mrs Wilkes Dining Room (lunch only)

Charleston, Low Country: Gullah Cuisine Lowcountry Restaurant

Well, sorry, I don't have an extra discount right now, but probably will again.
I prefer Zebra to Bentley's--just personal opinion. Jim Alexander is a great chef, but both places are nice.
Another high end experience would be Blue, downtown. There is now a world of good eating in charlotte.

Fav. Italian restaurant in Atlanta: La Tavola in Virginia-Highlands,www.latavolatrattoria.com
Fav. seafood restaurant: Atlanta Fishmarket, www.buckheadrestaurants.com
Have heard that Sotto Sotto is wonderful: www.sottosottorestaurant.com

Fun things to do:
Aquarium (Fascinating Titanic exhibit)
CNN Tour
Chinese Warriors exhibit (in Midtown, forgot name of museum)
Handbag exhibit at Museum of Design (they have the Eiffel Tower bag from Sex and the City)
Walk around Piedmont Park, there is also an orchid show in their Botanical Garden
Egyptian exhibit at Emory University's museum
Tour Margaret Mitchell's house
Go to the Atlanta Historical Society website and look for the plantation and garden tour not too far from the city.

Restaurants in Atlanta -

Second the suggestions of La Tavola & Sotto Sotto - also Fritti is next to Sotto Sotto and is their more casual pizza place which is also very good. Antica Posta is about as authentic as it gets for Florentine food.

Instead of "down home cooking" I like the slightly more upscale "new southern cooking" restaurants such as Horseradish Grill, JCT Kitchen, South City Kitchen, One Midtown Kitchen, Watershed, Parish (cajun).

The newest trend seems to be Upscale American Cooking using local ingredients, organic veggies, and artisan cheeses. Try: 4th & Swift, Restaurant Eugene (fancy), Finch & Holman's (Eugene's non-fancy place with fabulous "bar food"), The Shed, Cakes & Ale.

Canoe has lovely seafood and a great view onto the Chattahoochee River and all of the above also offer fish. Most of these are on opentable.com Hope you enjoy your trip!

You guys are wonderful, I can't wait to start our trip. I look forward to share all that we did when we get back. And Gretchen if you ever get that other discount, please let me know.

liz3kids - suggestions for Charlotte

spa) Ballanyne Resort
http://www.theballantynehotel.com/Amenities_Spa.cfm

shopping) Phillips Place and/or South Park Mall
http://www.phillipsplace.info/Home/
http://www.simon.com/mall/default.aspx?ID=788

and I might also mention that you don't have to wait until you get to Atlanta for an Ikea - check out the new one in Charlotte

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/store/charlotte

Recently spent some vacation time at all but Charlotte. Found that 2 full days in Savannah and 3 in Charleston allowed me to see everything I wanted. Atlanta isn't an especially charming city, but it does have a lot of good tourist attractions -- spent about 5 days there.

Here are some restaurant suggestions.

Atlanta:

-Mary Mac's Tea Room (old fashioned Southern)
-Fox Brothers (BBQ, best one I tried)
-Rolling Bones (BBQ, not quite to Fox Bros. level, but still excellent)
-The Varsity (drive in fare, good options are the chili/slaw dogs, onion rings, and frosted orange to drink)

Savannah:

-Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room (old fashioned Southern, boarding house pass-the-platter family style, lunch only). This place is open from 11 AM to 2 PM and it's wise to get there about half an hour ahead, as a line forms and no reservations are taken. The Lady and Sons isn't bad, but this place is definitely better.

Charleston:

-S.N.O.B. (Slightly North of Broad). Updated Southern style cuisine, and the best place I ate in this city by a long shot.

-if you want a BBQ fix, try Bessinger's (Carolina mustard based BBQ, chopped pork is the best thing to get here).

Charlotte now has IKEA and Trader Joes.